Trinity

In the traditional Indian concept, the trinity of Gods namely Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the primordial divinities.

  1. Brahma for creation
  2. Vishnu for preservation

Shiva for destruction and re-generation

In this trinity, Vishnu is unbegotten, while Shiva is Suyambuor self-producing and Brahma is created from Vishnu through the concept of Padmanabha.
In this capsule we look at the trinity from the following perspectives.

Brahma:  
I. Geographic spread.
The geographical spread of Brahma is from Pushkar in Rajasthan, India to all over the world. We also look at the concepts of Brahma and the opposite of it Abrahma which not only has phonetic similarities but also conceptual similarities with Abraham of West Asia and the religions that flowered from thereon.
II. Universe Vs multi-verse:
Brahma is denoted with four heads that suggestively indicates to us that what we are living in is not a universe but a multi-verse. The creation that sprang forth from Brahma is a multiverse of four planes.

Vishnu:
We have seen that Vishnu is the preserver and he pervades everywhere. The root word of his name Vishnu is Vishwhich means to “pervade”. That is why; we have the saying that Vishnu is present in the largest of the objects to the smallest of the objects, a speck of dust.

Shiva – A symbolic phenomenon:
Shiva should not be limitedly thought of as a divinity of destruction. Destruction is part of the cycle of the universe’s very being. The destruction is for re-generation. This re-generation can also be done through process of celebration. The cosmic dance of Nataraja is a representation of these factors of Shiva in the art and iconography form.
Shiva means auspicious and life. The opposite of word Shiva is  Shava.  Shava means non-life, that which does not have life in it.

Trinity concept world over:
The concept of trinity is not limited to India alone. It is there both in the Hebrew and Christian texts and also in Greek mythology. It is also there in the ancient Central American civilizations of Maya and Inca.

This world spread of the concept of Trinity speaks of the underlying nature of not only the forces of this earth but also of the universe.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it is such interesting aspects of Trinity that we explore in this capsule.

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